IPART has completed its review of the maximum prices that Central Coast Council can charge customers to provide water and wastewater services from 1 July 2026.
We have made a 1-year determination for maximum prices that Central Coast Council can charge for water and wastewater services from 1 July 2026 to 30 June 2027.
Consistent with legislative changes, the 1-year determination will remove the current stormwater drainage charge.
We will begin our next review of maximum prices for Central Coast Council’s water and wastewater services immediately to inform a new determination to take effect from 1 July 2027.
We have published our Final Report
We have released our Final Report on Central Coast Council’s maximum prices for its water and wastewater services.
Under our determination, bills for a typical household receiving water and wastewater services (using 170 kilolitres of water per year) will increase by 5.5% (or $82) to $1,565 in 2026−27 including inflation (or 1.3% plus inflation). The 1.3% increase above inflation reflects broader economic changes such as interest rates. Bill impacts will depend on household type and water use.
In reaching our decisions, we considered all feedback received from stakeholders at our Public Hearing, through submissions to our Issues Paper and Draft Report, and responses to our customer surveys. In addition to this process, we considered a range of matters under the IPART Act including:
- the cost of providing the service
- consumer protection against abuse of monopoly power by a water utility
- the effect on general price inflation over the medium term
- the need for greater efficiency in the supply of the service to reduce costs to consumers and taxpayers
- the need to maintain ecologically sustainable development and protect the environment
- considerations of demand management and least cost planning
- the social impact of our determinations
- the standards of quality, reliability and safety of the services concerned.
Stakeholders mainly raised concerns about:
- affordability and the impacts of proposed price increases for different customers, particularly given cost-of-living pressures
- lack of visibility of the need for increased expenditure and its link to improved services and value
- price structures regarding water usage verses fixed service charges
- low trust in Central Coast Council’s accountability and governance.
The following links provide more information on how we review and determine water prices and about the water businesses that we regulate.
We thank all stakeholders for their input
We thank all stakeholders for their time and effort throughout this review to provide us with their views on Central Coast Council’s prices for water and wastewater services. We have considered all feedback in making our final decisions and recommendations.
We will also consider all submissions and survey responses already received in the new review. This means that, while we will again seek and welcome feedback during that new review, anyone who has already made a submission will not need to provide it to us again.